Remains Different
by PhantomFalcon13
Summary: This is a rewrite of Ash's Journey through every region. Ash will start out with Pikachu because Ash not starting out with Pikachu is like not starting with a Pikachu in Yellow version. Catch my drift? Ash will still be slightly hyper when it comes to battling, but otherwise he won't be hyper at all and nor will he be as stupid as he is in the anime. Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon
1. Information about my story

Prologue/Information

This is a rewrite of Ash's Journey through every region (Unless I get bored of writing). Ash will start out with Pikachu because Ash not starting out with Pikachu is like not starting with a Pikachu in Yellow version. Catch my drift? Ash will still be hyper, but he will not be as hyper nor will he be as stupid. Characters will actually age in this Fanfic.

In this Fanfiction everyone starts the Pokémon journey at the age of 12. I personally believe the age of 10 is too young, but I still wanted the characters to still have child-like tendencies.

I don't want to have to do this for every chapter so I'll say it here

"I do not own Pokémon." - PhantomFalcon13

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There are several things that will be different in this story.

Firstly, I'm making it so energy type attacks (like flamethrower, thunderbolt, and other similar attacks) are the only ones that a Pokémon can be completely immune to. While physical attacks (What I mean by physical attacks is attacks that are not based on energy and make physical contact with the opposing Pokémon) will always cause damage because of the force of the attack. Like if a Fairy-type gets hit with a Dragon Claw it will still be hurt. I mean really it's getting slashed with claws, how wouldn't that hurt? How this works is the initial attack does damage, but the energy-type behind the attack is what deals the most damage. The Pokémon can be immune to the energy-type utilized in the attack, but the Pokémon will still suffer damage since it was physically hit. Also Ghost is still immune to all Normal and Fighting attacks (with possibly a few exceptions that will be named in an authors note). While Normal is also still immune to all Ghost-type attacks (With a few exceptions like Lick as an example and more examples will be named in an authors note).

Secondly, Pokémon can learn and use every attack they learn, but when in an official battle a Pokémon can only use 4 of them. The attacks can be chosen throughout the battle. If a Pokémon uses a 5th attack it is then forfeited from the match.

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My story will not have short chapters (short = less than 2,500 words); I absolutely hate it when a fanfiction goes "Here's a new chapter! It almost has 1,000 words!" That is just way too short. Also another thing about this series is that I am not going to be generous to the characters like almost every other author on this site. What I mean by generous is *Ash is summoned by Arceus "Here Ash take all of my legendary children because you are the chosen one".* or *Ash and friends found a shiny version of every single Pokémon and caught them all!* Legendaries will appear, but they will not be caught unless I deem it crucial to the plot (and most likely they will be released afterwards). Shiny Pokémon will be very very rare in this story. The only one that I can tell you will happen is Ash's Noctowl.

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Oh and the pairing for Ash has been decided and that pairing will not change.

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If you have any Questions please leave them in the comment section.

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Eventually there will be a list of attacks on my profile that either don't exist or still damage a Pokémon even if it's immune to the attack's typing.

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-PhantomFalcon13


	2. Let the Journey Begin

*Authors Note*

 _ **"Bold/Italics"**_ = Pokédex

 _'Italics'_ = Thought

If you have any questions please leave them in the comment section and I will address them when I post the next chapter.

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Reviews/questions:

St Elmo's Fire:

1st) I don't know where you got that Pokémon names and the word Pokémon itself shouldn't be capitalized because they definitely should be because every Pokémon website and even the games capitalize them. They even do capitalization for character's titles like Nurse Joy and Professor Oak. Attacks are also capitalized like this 'Powder Snow'. That's what I'll be following for grammer.

2nd) I chose 12 for the reason I explained. I thought 10 was too young, but I didn't want him to be 15 at the start of his journey because I wanted to show him grow more mature over the length of his journey to be the best and I though the best age to show that is 12.

3rd) I'm sorry that my info/prologue doesn't follow the guidelines, but I don't want to go through the trouble of changing it when it's not enforced and many other writers do much worse with things like "Sorry about not posting this week, I was sick" and that's all the content of their "chapter" think of it more like an information page that's telling you about how things are going to work in the story.

Let the journey begin!

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Remains Different Chapter 1

In the small, quiet town of Pallet is a child named Ash Ketchum, who, at age 12, isn't so quiet. While many are asleep right now, Ash is the exact opposite. He is currently getting ready for tomorrow's journey, and was thinking about which Pokémon he was going to choose as his starter.

 _'I wonder who I should choose as my starter Pokémon'_ Ash's train of thought began. _'I'd love to have all 3, but I can only choose 1'_ Then Ash remembers that his childhood friend Leaf already decided on the Pokémon she wanted. _'That leaves out Bulbasaur since Leaf wants to be the strongest grass-type trainer. So that just leaves Charmander and Squirtle. Well I guess I'll just go with the flow, I've never been one to plan things out.'_ Just when he decides it was time to go to bed he hears his door open. He turns around and sees his mother, Delia Ketchum, standing in the open doorway.

"Ash, you should get to bed or you won't get enough sleep. If you're late you might not get a Pokémon" His mother warned him with a weary tone. She was currently dressed in a pink night gown and pale green sweat pants which were a little short.

"Alright mom, I was just about to head to bed anyway" Ash informs her. "I was busy thinking about what Pokémon I should choose as my starter."

"It's alright dear; just make sure you get enough sleep. I wouldn't want my little Pokémon Master to have to miss his journey because he didn't show up to get his Pokémon." Delia says with a tired laugh. _'He's growing up so fast. It seems like yesterday, when he was toddling around in diapers'_ is what's on her mind as she leaves the room after saying good night to him. Ash heads to over to his bed, lies down, and goes to sleep

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Morning arrives, and the sun starts to rise over Pallet Town. If you were outside of the Ketchum house, you would hear the faint sound of an alarm clock going off: but if you were inside the house, let's just say the sound wasn't so faint. Unknowingly to Ash, his mom had set the alarm clock to maximum volume as both a joke and to make sure he got up in time to get to Professor Oaks laboratory.

Ash is startled by the loud noise from the alarm clock that he lets out a surprised yelp and frantically moves about. However, while doing so he ends up falling off his bed and face-planting on the carpeted floor of his room. _'That hurt'_ He thinks after he picks himself up from the floor. He then moves to finally shut off his still blaring alarm clock. After turning it off and putting it back down on the nightstand next to his bed, he sees a note. He picks up the note and begins to read it.

 _I'm guessing you noticed your alarm clock_

 _was startlingly loud. I turned the volume all_

 _the way up to make sure you woke up._

 _Come down stairs for breakfast after you get_

 _dressed and make sure you change your underwear._

 _Love, Mom_

Ash just sighs and heads to the bathroom with the clothes his mom left out for him in hand. He exits the bathroom and was wearing a red and white cap with a black Pokémon league symbol on it, navy blue jeans, a black under shirt, and white outlined blue jacket. He grabbs his green backpack that he had packed the previous night and heads down the stairs to get some breakfast. When he gets down the steps he heads into the kitchen where his mom was waiting with breakfast already made.

"Here honey, have a seat and I'll bring the food to the table." His mom says gesturing to a chair with a plate and silverware directly in front of it. After Ash takes his seat she brings several plates full of food and sets them down at the center of the table.

After Ash eats his breakfast he gets up from the table says "Thanks for breakfast" he then picks up his plates and brings them over to the sink to rinse them off.

"Ash it's just about time for you to head out to get your starter Pokémon. Make sure to come back and introduce me to your Pokémon and say good-bye." She tells him while he was rinsing off the dishes.

"Will do mom" He answers her. After he finishes with the dishes he heads over to the front door grabs his black and blue shoes and puts them on. Right when he was stepping out the door he yells "Bye mom! I'll be back soon!" He hears a faint goodbye then he bolts down the long dirt road of Pallet Town heading towards Professor Oak's lab.

When he makes it to the hill that the Lab was stationed upon, he looks around taking in the sight to better remember this day. Outside of the lab was a giant wood-fenced field with multiple different habitats that stretches farther than Ash could see. He quickly made his way up the large stairway leading to the front door of the lab. When he reachs the door he quickly rings the doorbell and waits for someone to answer. He is greeted by Professor Oak in his signature lab coat when the door opens.

"Glad you could make it in time Ash. Well come on in everyone is waiting" Professor Oak tells him while ushering him inside. "Well not everyone is here. The first child was too eager to start his journey and left immediately after choosing his starter."

"Okay… Thanks Professor." Ash said confused as to why the professor told him that. Unbeknownst to Ash, Professor Oak had actually lied about there being another child.

Professor Oak leads Ash to the part of the lab where both Leaf and Gary are waiting. Leaf and Gary were already told the same story about the other child, and didn't think much of it. When Ash and Professor Oak enter the room they hear an arrogant voice say "I didn't expect you to be here on time Ash. I expected you to be running here late in your pajamas."

"I'm not stupid Gary." Ash replies, already knowing who the voice came from.

"Could have fooled me" Gary responds with a satisfied smirk, which disappears when Leaf slaps him the back of the head.

After slapping him, Leaf says "Shut up Gary, no one wants to hear your voice." Ash stifles a light laugh and heads over to stand by them. While he walks over he notices both of their outfits. Gary's outfit is his usual clothes of a purple long-sleeved shirt, blue jeans, and a green and yellow yin-yang necklace. Gary also had unnaturally spiky hair that Ash suspected he used a lot of gel to make it that way. Leaf on the other hand has a light-blue almost teal color shirt, a short red skirt, a yellow hand bag draped across her torso, and white hat with a red line going around it.

Gary saw Ash laughing at him and responded with "At least I can fight my own battles, where you have Leaf do it for you."

Ash stops laughing and drew closer to Gary and with an angry voice says "What was that Gary?"

"You heard me loud and clear." Gary replies with a smirk. By now both Ash and Gary were face to face staring daggers at each other. To stop them Leaf pulled both of their ears, hard. "OW ow ow… What was that for!?" Both ask at the same time.

"To stop you two from a getting into another fist fight. You remember what happened last time, don't you?" Leaf says calmly. At that both of them went quiet remembering how their fight got out of hand and they ended up having to run away from a flock of angry Pidgey and Pidgeotto.

While on the other side of the room Professor Oak was silently watching them quarrel with a slightly amused expression on his face. He had already prepared for their arrival beforehand andwas just waiting for them to quiet down. Once they quieted down and faced him he began to speak "Okay Leaf do you know which Pokémon you would like to receive?"

"Yes Professor, I decided a long time ago that I would choose Bulbasaur, since I want to be the best grass-type trainer ever." Leaf answers with a bright smile. Professor Oak turns around and picks up a Pokéball that held the grass/poison-type named Bulbasaur. He walks over to Leaf and hands her the Pokéball, which she takes and releases the Pokémon that was held inside. From the burst of light that comes from the Pokéball is a small green quadruped. It had darker green splotches on its head while also having a large plant bud growing from its back. "Hi Bulbasaur, I'm your new trainer" she tells the new face.

Bulbasaur quickly looks at his new trainer and jumps into her arms with a happy "Bulba!"

"Well you're a friendly one, aren't you Bulbasaur?" She says while snuggling up to him.

"Well Leaf, here is your Pokédex which also substitutes as your Trainer ID. and some spare Pokéballs to start you off. I hope you take great care of Bulbasaur he is very friendly." Professor Oak says while handing her the Pokéballs and a pale green Pokédex.

"Thanks Professor and don't worry I'll take great care of him." She assures him with a smile still plastered on her face.

She then turns her attention to Bulbasaur and activates her Pokédex which in a mechanical male voice states **_"Bulbasaur, the Seed Pokémon. From birth, Bulbasaur carries a large plant seed on its back. It uses the nutrients from the seed to grow bigger and bigger. Extended exposure to the sun will cause its body and seed to grow in size. Some say that once, when the seed was much lighter, Bulbasaur was able to get around on two legs."_** The Pokédex also listed the attacks that Bulbasaur knew and its ability on the screen.

"Wow Bulbasaur you already know Leech Seed!" She exclaims after she turns her attention back to Bulbasaur.

"Okay that only leaves Squirtle and a Pikachu that is a little hard to handle." Professor Oak told both Ash and Gary. "Gary it's your choice on who you want as your starter" Professor Oak informs turning toward Gary.

"I choose Squirtle because I couldn't be bothered with a difficult Pokémon. I want to be the best as fast as possible and a Pokémon like that won't get me there fast enough." Gary replies with a smirk knowing he left Ash with the harder route. Gary walks over to Professor Oak and grabs Squirtle's Pokéball, the extra empty Pokéballs, and the blue Pokédex. After pocketing everything he heads out the door way, not before saying "Smell ya later. I've got a journey to start."

Professor Oak sighs at the attitude his grandson has "Well Ash all that's left is Pikachu and again I'm warning you he is difficult to handle, so please be careful."

"I will professor and I don't mind taking Pikachu. In fact, if I can't get him to like me then I'll consider myself a failure of a trainer." Ash tells him. He walks over to Professor Oak and takes Pikachu's Pokéball, the extra Pokéballs, and the red Pokédex the professor has for him. Ash turns and releases Pikachu from his Pokéball. Out comes a small yellow mouse with two black tipped ears, a brown and yellow tail, two brown lines across it's back, and two red spots where it's cheeks were. When Pikachu realizes he is now outside of the Pokéball it looks around and his eyes land on the professor his cheeks start to spark with electricity. Professor Oak starts to pale because he's worried Pikachu was going to electrocute him. Pikachu has every intention of shocking him and was going to do so until he was picked up, being spooked by the sudden pick-up Pikachu lets out a Thunder Shock shocking the one who lifted him.

"Ahhgh!" Ash yells as he is electrocuted, but his hold on Pikachu doesn't falter. Leaf had also let out yelp, but in surprise of the electric attack rather than from pain since she was far enough away to not get electrocuted, as was Professor Oak. After the attack stops Pikachu is rather surprised and confused to hear Ash start Laughing rather than yelling at or hurting him. After Ash stops laughing he turns Pikachu around so he was facing him and sets him down on the ground and Ash squats down to be closer to eye level with him. "Wow Pikachu you really pack a punch, if I wasn't used to getting attacked by wild Pokémon that would have put me out for a while!" When Ash compliments him, Pikachu grew really confused and wonders if Ash was dropped on his head as a baby. "Well Pikachu, my name is Ash, I'm your new trainer and I'd like to ask you if you would join me on my journey to be the best trainer that there ever was." Pikachu silently thinks about it. Although he wasn't too pleased to have a trainer, he just couldn't help being interested in Ash, Ash seems different than the other humans he has met throughout his life and those people weren't nearly as pleasant to be around.

Ash notices Pikachu taking a while to answer so he says "You don't have to decide now, just come with me until we find a good spot. Then you can choose to either continue to travel with me or I can release you." Pikachu looks up at him skeptically and Ash takes notice of this and follows with "I won't force you to do anything that you don't want to do, but will you at least give me a shot?" Pikachu is beyond confused now; he has never met a trainer that would say something like that, not that he met many trainers, but still. Pikachu then decides it wouldn't hurt to travel with him for a while, at least until they find a good place for him to be free.

Ash takes out Pikachu's Pokéball and is about to return him when Pikachu starts growling at him. Ash studies Pikachu, confused as to why Pikachu is growling at him until he follows Pikachu's line of sight and lands on the Pokéball in his hand. Ash gets the message and puts the Pokéball away while Pikachu carefully watches him do so. "I guess you don't like Pokéballs. Well don't worry; I won't make you go inside it." Ash tells him with a smile. Ash then turns his attention to Professor Oak and Leaf and says "Well I'm headed home to tell my mom goodbye and show her Pikachu."

Ash turns and walks out of the lab with Pikachu not far behind him. Leaf is the first to speak "Well that was interesting." Professor Oak he knew Ash would eventually befriend Pikachu, but he expected them to fight for a while, knowing Pikachu's behavior. He also figured, Ash would have had to drag Pikachu by a rope to get the little electric mouse to follow him. He didn't expect Pikachu to follow Ash willingly at all.

"Yes, it was interesting. Ash has a lot of potential if he can reason with a Pokémon as stubborn as that Pikachu" Professor Oak states.

"Well I'm off to Viridian City to start my journey. Bye Professor, come on Bulbasaur let's get out of here." Leaf says her goodbyes.

"Well good-bye Leaf and good luck." The professor answers to her retreating form, not sure if she heard him. "Now it's time to get back to researching why certain Pokémon evolve when exposed to a certain evolutionary stone" He speaks aloud, to no one in particular.

Ash just arrives back at his home with Pikachu by his feet. Before he opens the door he turns to Pikachu and tells him "You're about to meet my mom she's one of the nicest people in the world, so please try not to shock her since I know you aren't comfortable around people." Pikachu nods reluctantly.

Ash opens the door and walks in with Pikachu right behind him. "Mom, I'm home!"

"Welcome back sweetie. Did you get your starter Pokémon?" He hears his mom ask from the kitchen.

"I sort of did, but it's up to Pikachu if he wants to stick with me" Ash replies on his way to the kitchen. He walks in and sees his mom sitting at the table sipping some tea. Before she could ask, Ash informs her of the situation and she just nods and agrees with his decision.

Pikachu is awkwardly stands in the doorway to the kitchen until Delia walks over to him and bends down his level "Nice to meet you Pikachu, I'm Ash's mom. Will you look after my little Ashy while you're with him?" Pikachu hears Ash groan at being called her 'little Ashy', but he pays no mind to it and nods questioningly to the mother of said 'little Ashy'. Satisfied with the answer, Delia stands back up and walks back over to Ash and gives him a giant hug telling him with a sad, but proud tone in her voice "I don't want to keep you here too long, so good luck on your journey. Please call me every once in while just so I know you're okay."

"I will mom, don't worry" Ash comforts her. He then looks to Pikachu and askes "You ready to go Pikachu?"

"Pika!" Was his response and he strides over to Ash.

"Alright then let's head on out." Once they open the front door Ash turns around and says "Bye mom, I'll talk to you soon!" With that out the way, Ash steps outside and heads down the road towards Route 1.

Just when they reach Route 1 Ash remembers he had yet to scan Pikachu with his new Pokédex, so he pulls it out and activates it **_"Pikachu the Mouse Pokémon. Whenever Pikachu comes across something new, it blasts it with a jolt of electricity. If you come across a blackened berry, it's evidence that this Pokémon mistook the intensity of its charge."_** On the screen of the Pokédex it Listed Pikachu's Ability as Static as well as its attacks which were Thundershock, Thunder Wave, Nasty Plot and Quick Attack.

"Wow I didn't expect you to have Nasty Plot. That's pretty cool." Pikachu looks a little put off from being complimented, but that doesn't mean he doesn't like it. Pikachu notices that he is quickly becoming more comfortable around Ash; subconsciously he is slowly lessening the distance between him and Ash while they are walking. It's just something about Ash that makes Pikachu feel comfortable, and he is confused as to why this human makes him feel this way.

Neither Ash nor Pikachu notice that a Pokémon is circling above them with its eyes locked on them. It quickly goes straight into a nose dive once both Ash and Pikachu enter its territory. Seconds later it swoops in and strikes Pikachu with a fierce Peck attack from behind. "PIIKAA!" cries Pikachu from surprise and pain the attack causes. Pikachu tumbles to a stop a few meters away.

Once Ash realizes what just happened he, runs over to Pikachu and kneels down next to him and asks "Pikachu are you alright?" Pikachu is about to respond, but this time Ash is the one who cries out in pain as the Pokémon does the same thing to him as it did to Pikachu. Ash got a glimpse of the Pokémon that is attacking them as it flies past them to get into position to attack once again; it's a small bird with pink tipped red wings, a sharp curved beak, and a brown feathered head with sharp beady eyes. "Pikachu use Thundershock!" Ash orders as he sees the Pokémon coming in for third attack. Pikachu instinctively follows the command and unleashs a small electrical current right at the incoming Pokémon. Said Pokémon couldn't avoid the attack in time and is hit head on. It falls from its path and slides across the ground slightly blackened by the electric attack. Both Ash and Pikachu watch it for a second to see if it was going to get up.

While it wis still down Ash takes this time to scan it with his Pokédex **_"Spearow the Tiny Bird Pokémon. Spearow has a very loud cry that can be heard over half a mile away. If it's high, keening cry is heard echoing all around, it is a sign that they are warning each other of danger."_**

While Ash is looking at the Pokédex he doesn't notice Spearow stand up. Spearow takes this opportunity and lets out a high-pitched "SPEEEAROOOOW!"

Ash does not like the sound of that and neither does Pikachu. Seconds later they hear the flap of not one, or even two sets of wings, but a whole bunch. Ash and Pikachu grow pale at the fact that the Spearow they just defeated called all of its friends. Looking behind them Ash sees what looks like a dark cloud of Spearow heading right for them. Ash lets out a quiet "Oh… shit." Pikachu completely agrees and they are in a lot of it. Without being thinking both human and Pokémon sprint off down the road as fast as they can hoping to put a greater distance between them and the giant flock of Spearow behind them, but it's to no avail the Spearow are shortening the distance between them too quickly.

Neither party is aware of the darkening sky above them. Rain started falling and the Spearow have now caught up to Ash and Pikachu and are pecking at both Trainer and Pokémon. Pikachu is too focused on running away to try and launch an attack. With both pushing in a little more desperation into their run they start to put a slight gap between them and Spearow, that is, until Pikachu trips and skids across the now muddy ground. Without thinking, Ash bends down while still running and scoops Pikachu up into his arms. This action slows him down enough for the Spearow to catch back up and start fiercely pecking him again. Ash is protecting Pikachu by keeping him close to his chest and having his arms wrapped around him to make it so the Spearow aren't able hurt the mouse. Out of the corner of Ash's eye he notices a rapid river and without a second thought runs straight towards it and jumps in to it in an attempt to finally get away from the flock of Spearow.

Jumping in the river is probably not his best idea. He could barely swim because he has Pikachu in his arms and his now wet clothes aren't making it any easier. Not to mention the current is strong enough to make it so that he couldn't surface to get a breath of air. Ash is out of options at the moment and his lungs were burning from lack of oxygen. He opens his eyes to try and find anything that could get them out of the river. It is hard to see, but he notices a vine swaying in the water. With quick thinking he put Pikachu in his jacket to free up his arms. He does his best to get close to the vine so he can pull himself and Pikachu out of the water. Just as they get close, the current gets stronger and pushes him slightly farther down the river, but that small distance was enough to make it so the vine was out of his reach. He summons all of the strength he could muster and tries to swim against the current. Slowly but surely he makes it to the vine and grabs a hold of it. At this point he hopes the vine could support his weight long enough to get them out of the river. With the vine in hand he uses the last bit of his strength to get closer to the riverbank. Just as he gets close enough to the riverbank the vine snaps. Luckily Ash is close enough to the edge of the river to latch onto the riverbank and pulls them out. Ash starts feeling physically drained and leans against a tree to rest his tired muscles and be shielded from the rain, not that it matters much since he is already soaked. He opens his jacket to check on Pikachu. He finds Pikachu unconscious, but breathing. He knows he has to get to a Pokémon Center and fast.

He takes Pikachu out of his jacket and holds him in his arms, since it would be hard to run with Pikachu still in his jacket. Just as he stands up he hears the cries of the Spearow in the distance, which are probably still looking for them. He quickly brakes into a sprint hoping the Spearow don't spot him, but he isn't that lucky. He hears a loud "SPEEEAROOW!" signaling its flock in the distance. He looks back and sees that the flock is now heading right for them and quickly catching up. Since he is looking behind him, he wasn't paying attention to where he was going and he trips over a large rock in the dirt road he is running on. Pikachu flies out of his arms and he braces himself for impact with the ground. He hits the ground scrapping his legs and forearms. He looks back once more and sees that the Spearow are a lot closer.

He then looks back towards where Pikachu landed and sees him awake, probably being woken up from the damage from the fall. He pulls out Pikachu's Pokéball and lies it down close enough for Pikachu to reach and pleads with a pained tone in his voice "Pikachu, I know you don't like being in a Pokéball, but this is to keep you safe from the Spearow, so please go inside."

With that said Ash gathers his strength and stands up. He faces the direction that the Spearow are closing in from and to get the Spearow to hopefully forget about Pikachu he yells "Hey Spearow! I won't be defeated by the likes of you! I'm going to be the best trainer that there ever was and I won't let you stop me!" After Ash says this every Spearow is angered even more and dive straight towards Ash with their wings folded in order to gain speed.

Ash fells a sudden weight on his shoulder and from the corner of his eye he sees that it is Pikachu. Pikachu leaps from his shoulder and right when he ss about to launch a Thundershock he is struck by lightning which turns his Thundershock into a supercharged Thunderbolt attack. With a loud "PI-KAA-CHUU!" he unleashes a giant arc of blue electricity, courtesy of the lighting which hit every single Spearow. When the attack ends, Pikachu lands on all fours and the Spearow either flee or were lying on the ground unconscious from the devastating attack. Pikachu falls over from exhaustion and Ash runs over to pick him up.

With the sky clearing of the storm Ash looks up and finds something he has never seen before flying straight over a rainbow. It's a giant Pokémon in the shape of a phoenix, but with the sunset he can't tell what color the Pokémon actually is, but it looks like it is mode of solid gold. He quickly pulls out his Pokédex and tries to scan the Pokémon, but the Pokédex only says "Pokémon unable to be identified. Species is unknown." What Ash doesn't know is that the Pokédex is designed to take pictures of Pokémon that are not able to be identified.

Pikachu looks up at Ash and licks his cheek as a thankful gesture. Ash laughs lightly and sas "I should be the one thanking you buddy, but I need to hurry and get you to the Pokémon Center." As he says this something catches his eye, it's something that is sparkling brightly as it slowly floats down from the sky. Before it reaches the ground Ash catches it and realizes it's a feather, but it's unlike any feather he has ever seen before and it gives off a sparkly rainbow glow. After examining it for a few seconds he remembers he needs to get Pikachu to the Pokémon center. Ash takes off in a sprint down the dirt road with Pikachu in his arms and Viridian City off in the distance.


	3. Defend the Center

*Authors Note*

 _ **"Bold/Italics"**_ = Pokédex

 _'Italics'_ = Thought

If you have any questions please leave them in the comment section and I will address them when I post the next chapter.

Here's chapter 2. I really like how this chapter turned out and I hope you do as well!

I only got the one comment on whether or not I should change dialogue from bold to normal so I'll keep it as is until I get more opinions.

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Reviews:

 **RabbitTris26:** I don't want to ignore anyone, but if it becomes a problem in the future I'll do so.

 **Poemado:** Thanks, I really like how I set up everything for battles as well. I wanted Pokémon to be able to learn more than 4 attacks, but I also wanted to put game mechanics in, so I came up with that as a compromise. For the attacks it never made sense to me why meteors falling from the sky and hitting a small Fairy-type Pokémon and did no damage at all (this doesn't only apply to fairy-types, but poison, ground, ext).

 **Bloody Rouge Dragon Deity King:** Yep! I wanted to surprise people. Here's a hint the next party member is someone who in the anime traveled with Ash for a long time.

 **True Master:** I wouldn't say he's completely mature, but he has his moments which show a lot in this chapter and the previous one because of the seriousness. Yep

 **Zeta:** Thanks for the compliment! I may change the dialogue in the future, but I want a few more opinions before I do. (I did)

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Chapter 2

As Ash is sprinting down the dirt road a large and blinding bluish-white light appears just a few feet in front of him, which disappears almost as quickly as it appeared, but he trips over something that wasn't there before the light appeared. With some quick thinking he spins and lands on his back in order to not have Pikachu get even more hurt. Ash slides about 2 feet scraping his back on the small rocks in the road. Ash groans out "The hell did I trip over?" as he sits up and looks to see what he tripped over and what he sees is a white shoulder strap bag and not too far away from it is a blond haired girl lying on the ground and who isn't moving.

Ash stands up with Pikachu still in his arms and walks over to the girl and kneels down to get a better look at her. She appears to be around his age, maybe a little younger, wearing a white dress, long white socks and what he believes is white ballerina shoes. He also notices a bruise that is starting to form on her right wrist. He tries to wake her up by pushing on her shoulder and the pushing motion makes her head roll slightly to the side. Ash notices on on the back of her neck is the tip of an old scar that runs beneath her dress. Without much success in waking her up he stands back up and mutters "Well… I can't just leave her here". Remembering that he needs to get Pikachu to the Pokémon center he places his unconscious Pikachu on the girl's stomach, quickly grabs the bag throwing it over his shoulder then, with Pikachu still on the unknown girl's stomach, he kneels down and picks her up wincing from the cuts on his back. With the girl in his arms he continues his run towards Viridian City albeit much slower than before.

It takes him 15 minutes to reach the entrance to the city and by then he's having trouble going any further since he ran so far and was carrying an unconscious girl for that long. As he enters the gate a woman with short spikey blue hair wearing a police uniform, which he recognizes as Officer Jenny, comes running over asking "Young man is everything alright?"

"I… found this… girl… unconscious in… the middle of the… road… and my Pikachu… is pretty badly hurt." Ash responds panting from exhaustion.

"Oh goodness! Follow me; I'll drive you to the Pokémon Center as fast as possible!" She picks up Pikachu and takes the girl's bag to lighten the burden, even if it's just a little bit. She then leads him over to her police car where he lays the girl down in the back seat and takes Pikachu back from Officer Jenny. Officer Jenny starts the car while Ash groans in relief when he takes a seat in the back along with the girl in order to catch her if she is about to fall off the seat since she's not buckled in.

"Thanks Officer Jenny, I don't think I could have made it the rest of the way on my own."

"There's no need for thanks young man, it's all part of my job" she says as she hits the gas hard.

When Officer Jenny said she'll get them there as fast as possible, she wasn't kidding. She was easily going 50 over the speed limit with the sirens blaring. Ash normally doesn't get car sick, but that didn't stop him from almost throwing up. He swears he could see his life pass before his eyes. On the way Officer Jenny explains how that the Pokémon center in Vermillion city also doubles as a hospital for people as well, but if the case is severe enough then they are escorted to the Hospital in Pewter City. Ash could barely listen as he had to focus on keeping the girl from falling off the seat and trying not to throw up when they go around a turn. They arrive in record time and to Ash's relief he no longer has to stay in the car. When he opens the door and steps out he fumbles a bit, but quickly composes himself and goes to pick the girl and Pikachu up once again. He thanks Officer Jenny as she leaves because of a call over the radio about '2 Team Rocket members and a Meowth have been spotted in the area'. She takes off as quickly as she had gotten there. Ash ised just glad he is no longer in the car.

Ash turns and sees the red roof building called a Pokémon Center. This Pokémon center is larger than most others since it also takes human patients as well. The building is 2 stories and the walls are a pristine white on the outside. He shakes his head and starts to head up the few stairs in front of the door. When he reaches the top of the steps the door opens automatically and he starts a quick jog to the counter where a pink haired woman in a nurses outfit, whom he assumes is Nurse Joy.

"Oh! What happened?" Nurse Joy asks in slight shock.

"I found this girl unconscious in the middle of the road just outside of the city and my Pikachu is really hurt." He sas with a little strain in his voice.

Nurse Joy turns to a large pink Pokémon that is wearing a nurse's hat and tells it "Chancey go get a stretcher quickly!" The Pokémon now known as Chancey gives a quick "Chanse" as a reply and runs through the double doors behind them. Within moments Chancey comes out with a stretcher. Ash quickly places the girl and Pikachu on the Stretcher and watches as Chancey pushes it back through the double doors with Nurse Joy following right behind.

Ash just stands at the counter awkwardly and after a few moments goes to sit down on one of the yellow cushioned seats within the lobby. He looks around for the first time taking notice of how the place was decorated. The walls are colored beige with a wooden base and the floors are tiled white with black ones every other 4. There were also yellow cushioned seats along some of the walls with small tables in front of them and large potted plants on both sides of the seats. The back wall to the right of the counter has a weird looking machine and some video phones. He takes notice that one of the phones is getting an incoming call and seeing as he is the only one in the lobby he walks over to the phone. He sits in the chair in front of the phone and answers it with a "Hello?" wondering who would be calling the Pokémon Center lobby.

The person that appears on the screen to Ash's surprise is Professor Oak. "Why hello, nice to see you made it to Viridian City Ash. I was just calling to see if you had made it there yet."

"Well I did, but with some difficulty" Ash replies.

"My, do you mind if I ask what happened?"

Ash then explains what happened with the flock of Spearow and then adds "Then we saw this large Pokémon flying over a rainbow. I have no idea what it was and even the Pokédex couldn't identify it."

"A large flying Pokémon and the Pokédex couldn't identify it? The Pokédex should have automatically taken a picture of the Pokémon, could you put the Pokédex in the slot right there?" He says as he points to where the slot on the video phone was. "Just give me sec as I bring up the picture… ah ha!" The professor takes a look at the photo and just turns white and goes completely silent; it looks like he was having a heart attack just from seeing the picture.

After a few moments of awkward silence Ash asks "Do you know what Pokémon it is?"

Professor Oak turns back towards the screen still pale from what Ash assumed is shock and says "I can't believe it… you actually saw this Pokémon on your first day as a trainer? In all my years never would I have expected to see this Pokémon."

"Is it that rare?" Ash questioned.

"Why Ash this is a Pokémon only spoken of in legends, it's the Legendary Rainbow Pokémon Ho-Oh. No one has seen or heard anything about this Pokémon in the last 200 years, that is, until today. It is said that Ho-Oh will only show itself to a human with the purest of hearts and bestows upon some a feather called the Rainbow Wing."

Ash is astounded that he has already seen such a rare Pokémon and it was only his first day as a trainer. After a few seconds Ash asks "What do you mean by purest of hearts?"

"What I believe it to mean is 'someone with a heart that is untainted by evil and even greed'. Well that's just my speculation on what it means though. If you had received a Rainbow Wing it would show that you are recognized by Ho-Oh itself."

"Oh, and by Rainbow Wing do you mean this?" Ash asked as he pulls out the glowing rainbow colored feather.

Professor Oak proceeds to fall out of the chair he is sitting on in shock. "Ash you can't do that to an old man, you almost gave me a heart attack. Too many surprises in one day could kill me." He replies as he gets up and sits back down in his chair.

"Sorry Professor."

"It's all good Ash, just be more careful in the future, I'm not young anymore. Anyways, not to make light of everything that happened, but is that all?"

"Well that's almost everything." Ash replies contemplating on how to word the situation with the girl.

"Well, go on, I'm all ears."

"On my way to Viridian City to get Pikachu to the Pokémon Center a flash of light appeared that went away as quickly as it came and in its place was an unconscious girl. I couldn't just leave her there so I picked her up and brought her with me to the Pokémon Center"

"Well, you definitely did the right thing by helping the poor girl, but I'm more interested on what the light was and why she appeared there. Do you have any idea as to why that happened?"

Ash just shakes his head no as a response.

"Well Ash, when she wakes up call me again, she might know why. I have to get back to my research, so farewell Ash and don't forget to call your mother she's probably worried about you and would like to know you're okay." Professor Oak says.

"Thanks Professor, I'll do that."

The screen goes black and Ash punches in his home phone number. After a few rings his mom's face appears on the screen. "Oh, hi honey, I see you made it to…" she trails off as she gets a good look at him and "… Why are you all scratched up and covered in dirt? And where is Pikachu?"

"Well, it's a long story…" he replies and follows by explaining what happened with the Spearow and the girl.

"Well I'm glad to see that you're safe sweetie, but be more careful in the future."

"I will mom." Ash says while groaning in his mind from her calling him by one of the many cutesy nicknames she has for him.

"Make sure you do, I worry about you. Also I can't have you going around in those roughed up clothes. I'll make you new ones and send them to the Pokémon Center in Pewter City."

"Ok, Thanks mom"

As a change of topic Delia says "Did you know it took your father 3 days to get to Viridian City?"

"Really? It shouldn't take more than a day" Ash says with slight confusion.

"Yep, your father was never good with directions apparently he got mixed up after training and returned to Pallet Town by mistake" She says while lightly laughing at his father's past mistake.

"That sounds like something he would do. He was always obsessed with training."

"Speaking of him, if you see him on your journey tell him to call me. It's been months since he last called!" She says with a small amount of anger, which is always a surprise to Ash because she rarely gets angry.

"Will do mom."

After he answers a voice from behind him calls out "Young man with the hurt Pikachu, I would like to speak with you, please come to the counter."

"Well I got to go mom"

"Bye sweetie and make sure you call me when you get to Pewter City."

"Ok mom, bye." Ash says then hits the end call button on the screen. He then gets up and walks over to the front counter.

When he gets close he sees Nurse Joy with a disappointed/angry face and hears her say "How could you let your Pikachu battle until it was in that condition, you should know better than that!"

"I'm sorry Nurse Joy, but it wasn't from a battle. We were attacked by a flock of Spearow after the one we defeated called for help."

"OH! I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions and I also never got your name."

"My name's Ash" he says and follows with "How is Pikachu? Will he be okay?"

"Pikachu was hurt pretty badly, but you got him here quickly enough that after a nights rest he should be feeling much better. I do suggest refraining from any battles until the following day just to be sure."

"Thanks Nurse Joy. Also, has the girl woken up yet?"

"Not yet, but she didn't seem to be hurt so she should be awake soon. I'll call you over when she does." She tells him and then something else comes to mind and asks "I'm assuming that you are going to take on the Indigo League?"

"That's right."

"Then I'll sign you up to participate in the league. Do you have identification?"

"Identification? Do you mean Trainer I.D.?" Ash asks.

"Yes, do you have one?"

"Professor Oak said our Pokédex is a substitute for our Trainer I.D." Ash answers while taking out his Pokédex.

"That will work." She says then takes his Pokédex and puts it into a slot on the computer behind the counter. "… and here we are. You're all set."

"Thanks Nurse Joy"

"I need to go check on some Pokémon, if you need me just hit the call button on the edge of the counter." She says as she points to the edge of the counter to Ash's left. She then turns around and once again walks through the double door behind the counter.

 _'_ _I guess I just need to wait'_ Ash thinks as he goes to sit down on one of the cushioned seats.

By the time Ash was called by Nurse Joy it had been about an hour and the sun had gone down. "The girl you helped has woken up; she wants to talk to you and said to bring her bag with you. Just follow me in the back." Ash follows behind her until they reach a room where she opens the door and motions for him to enter and then heads off down another hallway.

When Ash enters he see the typical hospital room with a few chairs, a sanitary station and a single hospital bed, which is occupied by the blond girl he brought here whom was sitting up straight. Now that she's awake he can see that she has pale green eyes and seems to be worrying about something, since her eyebrows were furrowed.

"Hello…" Ash trails off awkwardly "um… my name's Ash, you wanted to talk to me?"

"…Yes" she replies with the same feeling of awkwardness. "I just wanted to thank you for picking me up and carrying me here." She blushes slightly in embarrassment when she gets to the carrying part.

"It's not a problem. I couldn't just leave you there."

"Well, thanks again, oh and can I have my bag back?" After she asks Ash walks over and hands it to her.

She quickly unzips the bag and looks relieved when she pears inside it. She turns back to Ash who asks "Do you know what happened back on route 1? There was just a flash of light and you just appeared in the middle of the road."

"Well…" She contemplates on how she should answer, but seeing as how he helped her, she decided she could trust him "can you keep a secret?"

Ash is a little put off by this, but answers with swift nod. She reaches into her bag and pulls out a small purple creature that looks like a ball of fluff with two antennas with sparkly blue pom-pom like tips. It also has a black face with 2 blue Pikachu-like pouches and has a small gold crescent moon shaped fin that reaches from the top its black face, around its back, and to the bottom of its face.

"We were running from danger and in order to protect us he released a flash of light and then the next thing I know I'm in this hospital bed." She tells Ash

"Well it's a good thing you are no longer in danger, but what was it that you were running from?"

She shakes her head as if she doesn't know or doesn't want to say, which Ash respects and asks "Then do you know what he is?"

"I don't know what he's called, but I call him Nebby because he reminds me of the space term for nebula. Oh, and I never introduced myself, my name is Lillie" The now identified girl answers.

"Well it's nice to meet you Lillie. Do you know where you are?"

Again she shakes her head and answers "I didn't ask, all I know is that I'm in a Pokémon Center because I recognized Nurse Joy"

"Well you're currently in Viridian City Pokémon Center."

"Viridian City? Where is that?" Lillie asks.

"The south-western part of the Kanto Region" Ash quickly responds

"The Kanto region!? I was sent that far!?" She replies with utter shock.

"What do you mean by 'that far'? Where did you teleport from?"

"I was in the Alola region before Nebby brought me here."

"The Alola region? What's that?"

"It's a small country made up of 4 islands out in the ocean quite a ways to the south-east"

Before Ash could ask more about the Alola region the whole building shakes as an explosion goes off from the direction of the lobby and the sound of falling rubble following right after.

"What was that!?" Lillie yells startled and starts to gets out of the hospital bed as she puts Nebby back in her bag.

"I don't know, but it's definitely didn't sound good!"

A few seconds later Nurse Joy rushes in through the doorway "Team Rocket just blew a hole in the roof; I need your help so I can transfer all the Pokémon to another Center before they can take them all."

"Team Rocket!? You can count on me!" Ash replies

"I'll help too." Lillie says.

They quickly follow Nurse Joy out of the room and down a long hallway. "Who's Team Rocket?" Lillie asks trying to gauge how dangerous the situation is.

Nurse Joy replies "They are a large group of criminals that poach and steal rare and powerful Pokémon; they will do anything to get what they want, even murder." The answer leaves Lillie more frightened than she was before.

"They're definitely aren't the kind of people you want to have over for dinner." Ash jokes trying to lighten the mood up a little. To confirm it worked he hears a small laugh come from Lillie.

The group of 3 reaches a set of thick metal doors with a keypad to the left where Nurse Joy punches in a few keys to unlock the door. The doors open slowly and they get a good look at a room filled with racks each holding rows and rows of Pokéballs. When they enter Nurse Joy closes and locks the door behind them to buy them more time.

"Wow that's a lot of Pokéballs" Ash comments "What do we need to do?"

"I need you to bring the Pokéballs over to that machine as quickly as possible! I'll call my sister in Pewter city to ready the transfer machine."

"Is my Pikachu going to be okay?" Ash gets an immediate answer in a 'Pika!', a new weight on his shoulder and rub against his cheek. "Hi buddy, it's good to see you're doing better. I know you're hurt, but I'm going to need your help in case Team Rocket gets here."

"Pi-pikachu!"

The group hears a new voice coming from behind the door "I tink I heard someone come down dis way" the voice sounds a little weird and is spoken in broken English.

Another voice says "They are probably behind this door. How should we break it open? We used all the explosives to destroy the roof."

A 3rd voice answers with "I have just the thing; Ekans use Acid and melt a hole in the door!" You should hear the splatter of the acid attack hitting the door and the sizzling sound of the metal melting.

"Quick we need to start transferring the Pokémon before they get inside!" Nurse Joy yells frantically.

Ash and Lillie scramble to grab as many Pokéballs they can carry and bring them over to Nurse Joy while Pikachu was charging a Thundershock to attack Team Rocket when they break through the door. After the 4th time each for Ash and Lillie giving Pokéballs to Nurse Joy the Acid attack gets through the door making a large dripping hole right in the center. They now get a good look at the intruders two of which are wearing white uniforms with long gray gloves and gray boots. The first of the group has very long red hair that goes into an unnatural curl at the tip (it makes people wonder how much hairspray it takes to keep it that way) and her uniform is much more revealing than her male partner. The 2nd Rocket member is a guy with long blue hair and has an air of someone whom was raised in a wealthy family, but had gone down the wrong path in life. The third is a lot shorter and is what looks like a cat with very light brown fur except on the end of its tale and the toes of its feet. The cat also has a gold coin on its forehead. The last one is a purple rattlesnake like creature with a yellow underbelly, ring on its neck, and rattle.

Ash pulls out his Pokédex to gain some information on the two Pokémon so he can be prepared for the inevitable battle.

 ** _"_** ** _Ekans the snake Pokémon._** ** _Ekans normally preys on Eggs from_** ** _Pidgey_** ** _and Spearow nests, but can strike other prey from behind. By flicking its tongue out, it is able to detect danger and the scent of prey. Its jaw can detach to swallow large prey, but such a meal can make Ekans too heavy to move."_**

 ** _"_** ** _Meowth the Scratch Cat Pokémon. Meowth is Nocturnal in nature. It withdraws its sharp claws into its paws to sneak about without making any incriminating footsteps. For some reason, this Pokémon loves shiny coins that glitter with light."_**

Ash is surprised, not by the Pokédex, but by what happens after. The broken English voice from earlier actually came from the Meowth "Not too shabby, dey gots their information from a good source, but I got's to say not all Meowth are noctournal."

Nurse Joy and Lillie are stunned by the Meowth as well, with Lillie is even more so because this Meowth looks completely different than the ones she has seen in Alola. "The Meowth can talk!?" Ash asks aloud the question that the others have.

"Of course I can! I hads to practice fer a long toime to be able to speak like yous humans can" the talking Meowth boasts.

Pikachu lets loose the Thundershock it was charging only for Ekans to shoot an Acid attack to block it. "Pikachu use Quick Attack!" Ash says getting over the shock of a talking Pokémon. Pikachu takes off quickly and slams into Ekans's head sending it a few feet backwards. Ekans gathers itself quickly and without command attempts to bite Pikachu.

"Pikachu dodge it and use Thundershock." Pikachu jumps back, narrowly avoiding the strike, and fires off a stream of electricity that connects with Ekans; effectively electrocuting it. Ekans comes out with burn marks and looking pretty badly hurt.

"Ekans what are you doing letting that rat get the better of you!? Use Dig!" The female Rocket member yells.

The blue haired member throws out his own Pokéball and says "Go Koffing, use sludge to blind that rodent!" What came out of the ball was a floating light purple ball with raised craters all over it, those craters from time to time gave off a foul smelling puff of gas and on the front under its face it has a white skull and crossbones. Koffing immediately spews out a glob of dark purplish-brown goop from its mouth; luckily it misses its mark on Pikachu's face, but still splashes his side doing some damage. Feeling its chance the snake Pokémon surfaces under Pikachu executing the ground-type attack, but with Pikachu's quick reflexes he takes minimal damage from the attack since he used Quick Attack to get away and barrel into Koffing, which sent it flying into his trainer's face. "Koffing koff koff" it says in what appears to be a pained apology as it removes itself from his trainer's face.

"Ow! That hurt! I'll get you if it's the last thing I do you pesky rat! Koffing use Poison Gas attack!"

"Pikachu, get out of there!" Ash then notices that the hole Ekans dug is right next to Pikachu "Pikachu use Thunder Wave on Ekans and then jump in the hole!" Following the command Pikachu releases a ring of blue electricity at Ekans and jumps into the hole avoiding the poisonous gas.

The red haired rocket member groans in anger and frustration watching as the Thunder Wave connects with Ekans paralyzing it. "Ekans use Acid down the hole!" Ekans attempts to move, but the paralysis interferes leaving it unable to execute the order.

"Pikachu use Nasty Plot while you're down there!" Following Ash's command Pikachu starts gathering dark and disturbing ideas from the recesses of his mind which somehow effectively boosted Pikachu's special attacking power. "Now jump out of the hole and use Thundershock on Koffing!" With Koffing not knowing which hole it would jump out of it was taken by surprise and hit with the electric attack.

While everyone is focusing on the battle Meowth takes the opportunity to slip away and is heads towards the racks holding the rest of the Pokéballs unnoticed except by a small pair of yellow eyes.

"Pew!"

Lillie hears this and looks to her side to see Nebby looking at her.

"Nebby! Get back in the bag!" Lillie says in a whispery shout.

"Pew! Pew!" Nebby answers back with a smile as it points to where Meowth is with one of its pom-pom antennas. Lillie looks to where Nebby is pointing and sees Meowth filling a bag with Pokéballs.

"Ok Nebby, I need you to go hide we can't let anyone see you. I'll deal with Meowth."

"Pew!" It says as it goes and hides behind a machine.

Lillie looks back over to where Meowth is and quietly gets closer and when Meowth is within arm's reach she takes her bag off her shoulder and swings it at Meowth. The bag smacks Meowth on the side of his face as he goes flying into a racks metal support pole effectively knocking him out of commission (which happens to be close to the two Members of Team Rocket). Meowth not having had a tight grip on the bag released it when he was hit.

"Well, that takes care of him for a while. I just hope Ash can handle the other 2. I wish I could help, but I don't have a Pokémon of my own."

Getting back to the battle Pikachu is hit with another sludge attack and he slams into Ekans with another Quick Attack knocking it back over towards its owner knocked out.

"No Ekans!" The female rocket member yells out in worry.

The blue haired Rocket turns to her "Jessie I think we need to get out of here this rat is stronger than it looks!"

The now identified Jessie quickly nods her head in agreement and returns Ekans to its Pokéball.

"Koffing use Smoke Screen to block our escape!" Koffing releases a think brown cloud of gas from its craters what fills Team Rocket's general area.

"Oh no you don't!" Ash yells back "Pikachu stop them with a Thundershock!"

As Pikachu releases a Thundershock towards them Jessie turns to her partner "James, I'm getting a bad feeling about this." She says with a look of dread on her face.

The blue haired Rocket member now known as James replies "Really? I'm getting the same feeling."

When the Thundershock hits the smoke it sparks and causes a large explosion which blows another hole in the ceiling and sends the group of Jessie, James, Koffing, and Meowth flying off into the now cloudy night sky.

The police arrive just a few minutes after Team Rocket were sent sky high and they are filled in on what happened by questioning Nurse Joy, Ash and Lillie.

It has been an hour since the police arrived and some are still assessing all the damage that was caused. Ash walks over to Nurse Joy and apologizes for putting a second hole in the ceiling.

"What's the difference between one hole and five holes if it means everyone is safe and we have you and Pikachu to thank for that." Nurse Joy responds with a smile.

Ash sheepishly scratches the back of his head in embarrassment "I guess you're right, I'm guessing all the Pokémon are going to stay in Pewter City until the roof is fixed?"

"That's almost right, all the Pokémon that would need to spend the night in the treatment room will be sent over to Pewter City thought the transfer machine, while I'll stay here and treat the Pokémon who aren't as badly hurt."

"Well I need to get back and finish sending the rest of the Pokémon over to Pewter. You can rest up in one of our free rooms. Can you tell that to Lillie as well." As she says this she pulls out two keycards, which Ash assumes are the room keys. "This one is yours; Pikachu is already in there resting on the bed."

"Sure, I'll tell her and thanks for the room" ash replies putting his keycard in his pocket

"I'll see you in the morning."

"Ok, goodnight Nurse Joy."

Ash finds Lillie outside looking up at the sky even though the clouds are covering any stars that would be there. "Uh Lillie?" Ash says trying to get her attention. She jumps a little surprised, but quickly relaxes as she realizes it's Ash.

"Yes Ash?"

"Nurse Joy wanted me to tell you that you could spend the night in one of the free rooms." He says while holding out the keycard.

She takes the card and says "Thanks for telling me Ash, I'll thank her in the morning." she follows with a sigh and asks "This might be weird, but do you mind if I travel with you for a while? I don't really know much about Kanto and I don't have a Pokémon that can defend me from wild ones. I don't really want to go back to Alola right now either."

"Sure. I don't mind, it's always better to be with friends!"

Lillie puts on a weak, but genuine smile and says "Thanks Ash."

As they walk back into the Pokémon center Lillie brings up how the Meowth earlier looks different than the ones she knows of back in Alola.

"Whoa, really? What does it look like?" Ash questions.

"Well it looks generally the same, but the Meowth back in Alola has purplish-grey fur instead of light brown and has white fur where the one we saw earlier had brown fur." Lillie explains.

"That's cool, I wonder if there are other Pokémon like that, where they are different here than in Alola?"

"Well I'm not too sure, since I don't know what Pokémon are in Kanto."

"Then if we come across one that's different here than in Alola you have to tell me!" Ash replies with a little excitement.

Lillie giggles a little at Ash's excitement over something like this "Sure, I'll tell you all I know."

They talk a little longer and then head to their rooms after setting a time that they should head out. When they get to their separate rooms they quickly get changed into their night clothes and lie down on their beds both thinking about all that has happened today.


	4. What's a Direction?

*Authors Note*

 _ **"Bold/Italics"**_ = Pokédex

 _'Italics'_ = Thought

It's finally here! I'm only a little over 10 months late! This time I am hopefully going to keep writing, but I lose motivation easily and I'm lazy as hell. If you want to motivate me commenting is very effective. I started writing again because I want to inspire more people to write Ash & Lillie stories because now I can't read an Ash fanfic without Lillie being the main girl because I like her the most.

(If you haven't noticed I am using the game Lillie and not the anime Lillie, so she isn't afraid of Pokémon)

Another thing to note is that I went back and changed all of my past tense stuff to present tense. I have a habit to just randomly change between them while writing. Not only that I fixed some sentences that didn't read well.

If you see any mistakes please tell me where it is and I'll fix it as soon as I can. Suggestions are welcome, but I'll tell you now Ash & Lillies future Pokémon are already set in stone and will not change.

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Reviews:

bladetri: Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!

Guest: I'll tell you now, I absolutely despise Misty, but Brock is another story.

Bloody Rogue dragon deity king: Bloody Rogue dragon deity king used Mind Reader! It's Super Effective!

Matt Z: I got rid of all the bold because I now find it an eyesore and in no way am I a professional so saying "It's unprofessional" means nothing to me.

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Chapter 3

Ash wakes up from the sunlight hitting him through the small opening between the window curtains, and finds himself in an unfamiliar bed. It takes him a few seconds before he's reminded of everything that happened the previous day. Ash makes to get up out of bed and get changed. After he's done getting ready he wakes Pikachu by scratching him behind the ear.

Pikachu awakens up with a cute cry "Chaaa."

"Good morning Pikachu."

"Pi Pikapi" Pikachu says a groggy voice.

"Let's go get something to eat and find Lillie"

They get to the cafeteria and find Lillie sitting a table already eating, but Lillie isn't the only one in the cafeteria. There were a few other trainers there, and from what Ash could tell, they were talking about battle strategies, the possibility of contests coming to Kanto sometime in the future and other topics. Ash gets himself and Pikachu some breakfast and takes a seat at Lillie's table.

"Good morning Lillie"

"Pipika" Pikachu says as he jumps from Ash's shoulder onto the table.

"Oh, good morning Ash, and good morning to you too Pikachu" Lillie responds with a light smile.

They finish their meal and get their things ready in order to leave. They were about to leave, when Nurse Joy calls them over to the counter.

"Are you two leaving already?" She asks as they reach the counter.

"Yeah, I want to get to Pewter City to challenge the first gym as soon as I can."

"Ash, is Pikachu your only Pokémon?"

"So far, yes. Why?"

"Because the Pewter City gym is a rock-type gym and the Pokémon they use are all Rock/Ground-types, so Pikachu's Electric-type attacks won't affect them. You might want to catch another Pokémon or teach Pikachu an attack that's good against Rock/Ground-types." Nurse Joy informs him.

"Oh, it's Rock-type gym? Hmmm… do you know any attacks that Pikachu could learn that would help?"

"I'm not sure, but you could ask Professor Oak. He would probably know."

"Oh crap, I forgot to call him yesterday. I might as well call him now. He also said he had a few questions for you as well Lillie."

"Oh ok, I'll join you then" Lillie responds.

"Hold on Lillie, I'd like to talk to you for a minute. Ash, go ahead and use one of the video phones."

Ash walks over to the phones and leaves the girls to talk.

"Lillie, you don't have a Pokémon right?" Nurse Joy asks her.

"Um… no… I don't" She says this as her mind wanders to the little critter in her bag.

"Then I have just the thing for you, a trainer left this in my care saying they couldn't look after it." Nurse Joy pulls out a cylinder shaped object that looks like it opens from the top, The cylinder itself was made of a hard glass and on the inside of it was a large orange egg. Along the bottom of the egg were red swirls circling around it.

"What is this?"

"It's a Pokémon egg, from what I can tell it's a fire-type, but other than that I don't know much else. Normally I would give you a starter Pokémon instead of an egg, but I don't have any to give to trainers at the moment, so please take this egg and take good care of it."

"Are you sure? I'm sure you could find a better person to care for the egg. I'm not that confident I could take very good care of it."

"You'll be fine; I know you can take care of the egg and the Pokémon that hatches from it. I know you are a very knowledgeable and mature young girl." Blushing from the compliments Lillie sheepishly takes the container from Nurse Joy. "Don't worry Lillie everything will turn out fine. I'm sure of it."

"Ok, I believe you, thank you Nurse Joy."

"It's my pleasure, remember you and Ash are always welcome here and I hope to see you two again. Next time I hope holes won't appear in the roof."

"Alright thank you, I hope to meet you again too." The two say their goodbyes and Lillie walks over towards where Ash is making his call.

* * *

With Ash

Ash walks over to the phones and takes a seat in front of one. He quickly dials Professor Oak's number and after a few rings he sees Professor Oak appear on the monitor.

"Hi Professor!"

"Hello Ash, I heard about what happened at the Pokémon Center, is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine here, except for the roof." Ash jokes

"It's nice to hear everyone is doing well, and I heard you were the one who fought off Team Rocket. That was a great feat by someone who has only been a trainer for a single day, but Ash you need to be careful. Team Rocket is a ruthless group of criminals that steal and hurt Pokémon for their own profit. Try not to get too much attention from them; I fear the worst could happen."

"I know, I'll be more careful."

"So, I take it the girl you rescued woke up?"

"She woke up right before Team Rocket attacked so I didn't get the chance to call you. She's talking to Nurse Joy right now, so I'll introduce her when she's done" Ash explains. "I also have a question for you?"

"What's the question my boy?"

"Nurse Joy told me that the Pewter City Gym is a Rock-type gym and that the Pokémon they use there have a secondary Ground-typing. I was wondering if there were any attacks that I could teach Pikachu that could help me battle them."

"There are a few attacks Pikachu can learn such as; Grass Knot, Brick Break, Focus Punch, Iron Tail and Reversal." Professor Oak states. "As for which attack I suggest you teach Pikachu, I'd say the best one would be Iron Tail."

"Wouldn't Grass Knot be the best one since it's a Grass-type attack?"

"Well yes it would, but it would be hard for Pikachu to learn that attack without the help of a Grass-type Pokémon. As an Electric-type it would have a hard time controlling the Grass-type energy in order to use that attack."

"Then wouldn't that be the same for Iron Tail?"

"The difference between the two attacks is that with Iron Tail, Pikachu only needs to strengthen its tail and find a way to produce Steel-type energy. While with Grass Knot he would need to not only learn how to produce Grass-type energy, but also be able to release and control it outside of his body."

"I think I get it."

"Think of it this way, a Pokémon has a harder time learning how to expel and control an energy from their bodies that isn't a part of their own original typing."

"That makes sense, so basically it's hard for a Pokémon to control energy outside of their body than it is to keep it inside of them?"

"That is correct." At this point Ash hears footsteps coming towards him and turns to see Lillie heading over.

"Oh Professor, this is the girl I told you about, and she decided to travel with me through Kanto."

"Hello Professor, my name is Lillie; it's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine. From what Ash told me yesterday, you had appeared rather suddenly during a bright flash of light. Do you happen to know the reason for your sudden appearance?"

Lillie pales a bit when he asks her, but when she looks to Ash he gives her a slight nod signaling that she could trust the Professor. "Well I have a Pokémon… or what I believe to be a Pokémon inside my bag, I named him Nebby. I was in trouble when he started glowing and the next thing I know I'm in the Pokémon Center."

"A Pokémon teleported you here? May I see it? I might be able to tell you what species it is."

Lillie proceeds to open her bag and the second she does the energetic puff ball jumps out all smiling and happy "PEW PEW!"

Both Ash and Lillie turn to the Professor who looks a little perplexed and states "I've never seen or even heard of a Pokémon like this before, but from it having the power to teleport I'd assume it's a Psychic-type Pokémon. May I ask how you met this Pokémon?" Lillie's face goes dark and lowers her head in order to break eye contact. This is the first time Ash had seen her like this. "You don't have to answer if you don't wish to. I apologize if my question bothered you."

Lillie realizing her mood dampened and quickly responds "No! No, I'm… just not ready… to talk about it yet." As she went on in her sentence she got quieter and quieter

"Well if you ever ready to talk I'm all ears and I bet Ash is too."

"That's right, if you ever want to talk, I'll listen to whatever you have to say. That's what friends are for." Ash replies with a friendly smile to help cheer her up.

"Thank you Ash, and you too Professor."

In order to quickly change topics Ash asks "Hey Lillie, what is that you're holding?"

"Oh, this?" She asks holding up the container with an egg inside "It's a Pokémon egg that Nurse Joy gave me; she said I could have this as my starter Pokémon. It's going to hatch into a Fire-type, but she's not sure which it would be."

Ash turns to face the screen again and asks "Professor, do you know what Pokémon will hatch from the egg?"

"I do, but I don't want to ruin the mystery. All I will say is that Nurse Joy is right that it's a Fire-type and I think it will be a perfect match for you Lillie."

"Thank you professor, I can't wait for it to hatch." Lillie says with a bright smile

"Well it was a pleasure to meet you Lillie, and you as well Nebby." Nebby hearing his name gives out a happy cry "I have some paperwork to get finished, but if either of you ever need me I'm just a phone call away." Professor Oak continues. "And Lillie if you are ever in Pallet Town please visit me, and with your permission I would like to study Nebby."

"Ok and it was a pleasure meeting you as well, thank you."

"Have a fun journey you two."

"Bye/Goodbye Professor." Ash and Lillie responded respectively. The screen turns black effectively ending the call.

"What's next Ash?" Lillie asks.

"Well it takes a few days to get through Viridian Forest and that's if we don't get lost." Ash starts saying then adds "I'm not very good with maps or directions, what about you Lillie?"

"I'm probably worse than you are. I often got lost in my own hometown." Lillie admits.

They are both silent for a little while trying to think of a way around their no sense of direction, but they didn't get anywhere.

"I do need to go clothes shopping; a dress isn't really traveling clothes. We might think of something for our directional issue while shop"

"Ok sure, I might find something I like as well."

They head out of the Pokémon Center to try and find a clothing store; in short it took them an hour to find one, which ends up being right around the corner from the Pokémon Center. When they find it they both look at each other and give a heavy sigh knowing they'll have a hard time getting out of Viridian Forest after they enter it. After about an hour of shopping, they were both ready to leave the store. Ash changed his jacket out for a similarly designed short-sleeved vest because he deemed it too warm for a jacket. Lillie however had an entire outfit change; she now wore a plain a pale pink tee-shirt, a white skirt with light-pink trimming and now had her hair in a ponytail. "Well, Ash what do you think of this?"

"Um, I'm not really into fashion nor do I think I have a sense for it, but you look good." Ash answers truthfully.

"Thank you Ash, that vest looks good too." Lillie replies with a smile.

"I guess we're ready for the trip, the forest shouldn't be that far away from town." With that said they both head out of town and within an hour they start to see the forest rising above the horizon. After about another two hours they reach the entrance of the forest where a sign is posted that reads

 _Viridian Forest_

 _The home of many Bug-type Pokémon._

 _Warning!_

 _DO NOT make too much noise_

 _or use the trees as target practice._

 _You may upset a hive of Beedrill!_

"I'll take that to heart, I've already been chased by a flock of Spearow and I'd rather not be chased again." Ash says after reading the sign and Pikachu swiftly nods his head in agreement.

"I've never see a Beedrill what does it look like?"

"Well… I'm not too sure myself, let's see if the Pokédex will show us." Ash quickly takes out his Pokédex and types in Beedrill. The Pokédex shows an image of an oversized bee. The only difference being it has arms and legs and on each of its arms are stingers instead of hands.

 ** _"Beedrill the Poison Bee Pokémon. A Beedrill is extremely territorial. For safety reasons, no one should ever approach its nest. If angered, they will attack in a swarm. It uses sharp, poisonous stings to defeat prey, then takes the victim back to its nest for food._ _The barb on its tail secretes the most powerful poison."_**

Both Ash and Lillie shiver as the Pokédex finishes. "I hope we don't run into any of these, I don't want to evolve into a shish-kabob" Ash jokes.

"I wouldn't like that either." Lillie adds. The both look at each other and share a small laugh over the dumb joke. "Well it's now or never."

"Alright let's go!"

The forest itself has great scenery, but it's pretty much what you would expect it to look like, a dense population of trees and other plants. Ash and Lillie didn't talk much, both because they wanted to take in the quiet and they still had the threat of Beedrill fresh in their mind.

The first day of walking was uneventful, and fortunately they were able to stay on the correct path (thanks to signs leading the way). Along the way they saw a few Pokémon, but none of them caught Ash's eye. They find a clearing where they could set up camp for the night, and since neither of them knew much about cooking they eat canned food they have with them while sitting around the fire. After discussing a few topics, they drift off to sleep.

* * *

The next morning they pack up their belongings and continued along the marked path, and everything was going fine, until Nebby escapes from Lillie's bag. "Nebby get back here! This is the worst place to go and wonder off!" Lillie yells after him. Try as she might Nebby just wouldn't listen and continues off into the dense forest. "Ash we need to go after him! He doesn't have any way to defend himself!"

"Alright, let's go!" Ash responds after hearing the desperation in Lillie's voice. He and Lillie quickly run after Nebby, but for such a small thing he could really move! By the time they catch up to Nebby, they find him in very small clearing and up against a tree, cornered by a tan fluff ball with arms and legs. Ash quickly takes out his Pokédex to find out what that Pokémon is.

 ** _"Mankey the Pig Monkey Pokémon. Light and agile on its feet, and ferocious in temperament. When angered, it flies into an uncontrollable frenzy. Its raging tires it out and causes it to fall asleep, but the anger resonating in its dreams causes it to wake up which infuriates it all over again."_**

Hearing the Pokédex, the Mankey turns to face their direction and it doesn't look happy. "Lillie, Pikachu and I will distract it while you go grab Nebby."

"Ok be careful you two."

"Pika!" Pikachu yells as he jumps off Ash's shoulder with his cheeks sparking in an attempt to intimidate Mankey. Mankey is too angry to even care about the attempt of intimidation, and run at Pikachu with a glowing fist "MANK-MANKEY!"

"Pikachu dodge it and use Thundershock!" Hearing the order Pikachu jumps to the left causing Mankey's fist to hit the ground. Pikachu then fires a bolt of yellow electricity at Mankey. With no time to dodge the attack, Mankey was hit with its full power, leaving him scorched, and if possible, even more pissed off. Suddenly, a red aura begins to emanate from Mankey's body, and when it clears, he runs at Pikachu again. "Pikachu get out of the way and use Thunder Wave." Pikachu once again jumps away, but this time Mankey isn't fooled and quickly changed direction, and continues running toward Pikachu. This time, the attack lands, smacking Pikachu to the side before Pikachu could attack and this attack looked like it was more powerful than the previous one. "Are you okay buddy?" Pikachu stands up with some difficulty, but nods his head to say he can continue. "Pikachu jump and use Thundershock again!" Pikachu jumps as high as he can and fires another stream of electricity, but Mankey is able to avoid it this time. Mankey, seeing an opportunity once more, runs toward Pikachu and scratchs him across the face before he could recover from the fall. "Now that it's close, use Thunder Wave to slow it down!" At such a close range the blue electricity that Pikachu releases hits before Mankey has the time to react. After which, every few moments you could see little sparks coming off of Mankey. "Now once more use Thundershock and then hit it with a Quick Attack to finish this!" Pikachu fires off another Thundershock and Mankey tries to dodge, but he winces from paralysis and can't get away. After Thundershock hits, Pikachu rockets toward Mankey leaving streaks of white in his wake, bashing Mankey right in the nose. Mankey flies backwards and hits a tree knocking it out cold. "That was awesome Pikachu!"

"You two did great" Lillie compliments as she walks over with Nebby right behind her.

"Hey Lillie, why do you keep Nebby in your bag rather than a Pokéball?" Ash asked her and follows up with "He wouldn't be able to escape as easily and if he's ever in danger, like he was just now, you can just return him."

"I guess you're right, if I'm going to keep him hidden a Pokéball would probably be a better choice." Lillie starts saying and then adds "I never bought any Pokéballs; I guess I'll wait until we get to the next town to capture Nebby."

"There's no need to wait, here take these." Ash says holding out two Pokéballs for her.

"But those are yours; I can't just take them." Lillie says waving her hands back and forth as if to refuse them "and why two?"

"I have plenty don't worry about it and I'm giving you two because you'll need one for when your egg hatches as well." Ash says with a smile while still holding them out to her.

"If you insist, who am I to refuse a gift?" Lillie says with a small smile. From this exchange she's starting to learn how stubborn Ash can be at times.

After Lillie takes the balls, Ash turns to the unconscious Mankey and says. "He was pretty strong, right buddy?" Ash asks his partner.

"Pika" is the response Ash gets and he assumes Pikachu is agreeing with him.

"While Lillie catches Nebby we should get our first Pokémon too." Ash walks over to the Mankey and takes out a Pokéball and presses it up against the Pokémon's head. With Mankey being unconscious it couldn't struggle and the capture is successful. "Alright! We caught our first Pokémon!" Ash cheers in excitement from the capture of his first Pokémon.

Pikachu responds with a hearty and happy "Pi-Pikachu!"

"Congratulations Ash" Lillie says with a small chuckle from hearing their cheers of joy.

"Thanks Lillie" and Ash noticing that Nebby is nowhere in sight says "congratulations to you as well."

"Thank you, but mine isn't that much of an accomplishment." Lillie says toning down her achievement.

"Sure it is, you just captured a Pokémon that not even Professor Oak knows anything about! Just because you didn't battle Nebby it doesn't mean it's not a great achievement."

"You always know what to say, don't you?" Lillie says under her breath.

"Well anyway, Lillie you wouldn't happen to know which way we came from, do you?"

They both look at each other and think _'oh… shit.'_

* * *

"Ash, are you sure we're going in the right direction?" Lillie questions him after walking in a random direction for ten minutes.

"Nope" Ash responds quickly in a matter of fact tone.

"So… we're lost?"

"Yep" Ash answers confirming the situation.

"What do we do then?"

"I guess just keep walking. If we keep moving in one direction we should eventually get out of the forest, then we can figure out what to do after that." With that said they keep walking in the same direction until night falls only taking breaks to eat. When Ash releases Mankey to eat he was a little temperamental, but calmed down when Ash starts to treat his wounds with a potion. That night they set up camp in a somewhat small clearing that has large rocks scattered about. The next morning, after they eat breakfast, Ash decides it is a good time to train so he calls out Mankey. "Alright Pikachu we need to work on learning Iron Tail so we have a better chance at the gym."

"Pika!"

"And for you Mankey I want you to alternate between using Low Kick and Karate Chop on that boulder over there. Your goal is to reduce it to rubble by the end of the day."

"Mankey!" Mankey energetically runs at the boulder starting his training immediately.

"That's the spirit Mankey!" Ash yells out, but Mankey doesn't seem to hear him. Ash faces Pikachu and says "Professor Oak told us that we need to strengthen your tail in order for you to learn Iron Tail. I used some rope to tie up some rocks so that we can use it as a weight. After some weight lifting we'll try attacking a rock using only your tail and maybe you'll naturally get the hang of using Iron Tail." Ash ties the end of the rope to Pikachu's tail.

"Ash, what are you going to do while they are training?" Lillie asks as she walks over.

"I was thinking I might as well exercise alongside them to show them that we're in this together."

"Do you mind if I join you? I'm not very athletic so my legs get sore from all the constant walking we have been doing."

"Sure! The more the merrier."

* * *

Lillie doesn't do much more than jogging and stretches to bring up her stamina, but she has a good time doing so, she doesn't regret it even though her legs are telling her she should. Ash, on the other hand, went a little harder with training. Not only does he do the same as Lillie, but also worked on muscle building to increase his own strength. His reasoning was "you never know when it could come in handy". Ash and Lillie's workout effort didn't even come close to Pikachu's and Mankey's effort. The two Pokémon have more energy and stamina than an average human, and they can train much longer.

After several hours of constantly hitting the boulder and only making a little progress Mankey becomes infuriated. Every hit that doesn't finish off the boulder would just make Mankey angrier, and as he gets angrier the more powerful his strikes become. While watching Mankey Ash thinks it would be a good idea to check what attacks and ability Mankey has. The Pokédex listed his ability as Anger Point and attacks as Low Kick, Karate Chop, Leer, Focus Energy and Reversal. Ash realizes right away that Anger Point is the reason for Mankey's attacks getting more and more powerful, since the ability means that the angrier the Pokémon becomes the more powerful their attacks will get. By the end of the day not only does Mankey reduce the boulder to rubble, but 3 other ones alongside it.

For Pikachu his tail was steadily getting stronger and after an hour of weight lifting Ash has Pikachu use his tail to try and break rocks. Even though it ended in failure every time, Pikachu kept at it. Eventually Pikachu started to feel like he was to be able to gather more strength and energy into his tail while attacking. Ash also at times saw Pikachu's tail glow for a fraction of second. Pikachu was making great progress.

Once the sun starts to set, Ash calls off their training. Both Mankey and Pikachu are thoroughly exhausted. "You guys did great! Pikachu, you are getting the hang of Iron Tail a lot sooner than I expected. I bet within the next few days you'll have already mastered the attack."

"Pi-ka-chu!" Pikachu replies in high spirits.

Ash turns to Mankey "I knew you could do it Mankey, but I didn't expect you to by far exceed my expectations. Not only did you destroy the rock, but you also took down 3 other ones too."

"Mankey!" Mankey replies happy to get praised.

"Tomorrow we will train for an hour and then continue our journey" Ash tells them. "Pikachu you'll be doing the same as today, but Mankey I want to improve your maneuverability and reaction speed so we'll be doing something different. Pikachu you'll be helping out with that"

"Pika/Mankey!" They shout.

* * *

The next morning they pack up all their stuff and train for an hour. The first half an hour Pikachu is weight lifting with his tail. Mankey joins in at the 2nd half of the hour and has to dodge Quick Attacks from Pikachu to increase his reaction speed and his maneuverability. Mankey gets hit a total of 34 times out of the 87 Quick Attacks in that half an hour. Pikachu was getting creative in this training. He began to feint and then attack, and if he missed, he would immediately turn around and attack from behind. Pikachu wasn't constantly attacking, he would attack randomly, or when Mankey let his guard down. This training also helped Mankey's stamina and defense by taking so many blows within a short amount of time. Sure Mankey was angry about how many times he was hit, but he swore to himself next time he would dodge them all.

The next four days of traveling had gone by uneventfully, the only thing noteworthy that happened within those days was that Pikachu was now able to use Iron Tail, albeit only a few times and never more than once in succession.

* * *

After having spent a week in the forest and six of those days lost, on the eighth day they finally found the trail again. "Hey, Lillie this sign says we only have a few miles left until we are out of the forest."

"That's great news; that means Pewter isn't too far away either and I'll finally be able to take a shower. I feel gross walking in this humid forest for over a week." Ash just laughs at her remark. "What's so funny? You need one too and your clothes look like they were sun dried after washing them with mud." Lillie scolds him.

"Sorry, sorry" Ash apologizes flatly then takes a look at his clothes "but I guess you're right about my clothes they are pretty filthy, but yours aren't that much better."

Lillie would have scolded him further for that comment, but popping out from the bushes behind Ash was a person wearing armor and wielding a sword, and he is charging straight for Ash. "ASH! WATCH OUT!" She cries out in fear for him.

The person behind Ash lets out a yell "HIIIYAAAHHH!"

"Huh? What?" Ash quickly turns around to see a sword racing down and stopping an inch from his nose "What the hell!?"

"Greetings, are you by chance the Pokémon Trainer who hails from the town of Pallet?"

Caught completely off guard and with the threat of the sword in his face Ash answers honestly "I am… but who are you?"

Getting the information he wanted he retracts his sword and sheaths it. "I am Samurai and I have been searching for you."

"Huh? Why?"

"I have battled the other trainers from Pallet and wish to also challenge you to a Pokémon battle. I hope you are as strong as they were."

"If that's all you wanted, I'm always up for a battle, but you didn't have to SWING A FREAKING SWORD AT ME!" Ash growls through his teeth.

"I also don't think that's the best way to challenge someone, somebody could get hurt" Lillie follows up.

"Ah, but I must, that is the way samurai challenge others to battle." Samurai says proudly.

"Why do I doubt that?" Ash says under his breath. "Anyways you said you wanted a battle?"

"That is true trainer from Pallet; may I ask your name?"

"I'm Ash."

"Well then Ash, shall we begin?"

"Sure, what are the rules?"

"We will hav battle."

"Okay, Lillie can you referee for us?" Ash turns and asks to her.

"I'm not sure how to be a referee, but I'll try"

"All you need to do is be unbiased, and announce when to send out our Pokémon, when to begin the battle and when a Pokémon is unable to continue battling" Samurai informs her.

"Okay, I'll do my best." Not confident in herself. Ash and Samurai make space between them, large enough for the battle, each grabbing a Pokéball. "Send out your Pokémon!"

"Go Mankey/Metapod!" Ash and Samurai say releasing their Pokémon from their Pokéball. The Pokémon that appears in front of Samurai is a green crescent moon shaped Pokémon.

Ash takes out his Pokédex to find out more information on the new Pokémon. **_"Metapod the Cocoon Pokémon. This Pokémon is the evolved form of Caterpie. Its shell is as hard as an iron slab. A Metapod does not move very much because it is preparing its soft innards for evolution inside the shell."_**

"Let the battle begin!" Lillie calls out.

"I'll go first. Metapod use Harden!" Samurai orders. Metapod's body glows bright and when light goes away the Metapod only looks a little bit shinier.

"Umm… ok" Ash comments on the attack slightly confused. Even Mankey looks confused, which is rare since he's normally always mad.

"I see you don't even know what Harden does, this shall be an easy battle!" Samurai taunts. "While they are confused, use Harden again!" Once again Metapod glows and when the light dims he looks exactly the same.

"I know what Harden does, but is that the only attack it knows?" Ash questions

"That is correct! Now that Metapod has hardened its body, your attacks won't be able to hurt him and will only tire out your Mankey. For good measure, Metapod use Harden again!" Again, Metapod looks exactly the same as before he used Harden.

"Mankey, I'm sorry your first battle is like this, but let's end this quickly." Ash apologizes. "This is not what I had in mind for a battle, but Mankey use karate chop and send the Metapod flying!" Mankey sprints towards Metapod with his hand glowing white.

"Haha! My Metapod is stronger than you think! Use Harden one more time!" Samurai laughs in pride of his Pokémon's defensive power. With that command Metapod glows for a fourth time and comes out looking the same… again.

"Man-KEY!" Mankey yells as he slams his hand into Metapod's side effectively sending it tumbling backwards quiet a distance. When the rolling stops Metapod is still standing and looks perfectly fine as if it had taken no damage at all.

"Do you now see the prowess of my Metapod!?" Samurai shouts with bravado. "Metapod once again use Harden!" For a FIFTH TIME Metapod glows and comes out looking NO DIFFERENT than before.

Ash looks at Mankey and he is back to looking like normal, meaning he was angry. _'He's probably angry because his attack didn't do much. Wait… if he keeps hitting Metapod and it still keeps looking fine afterwards then he'll probably just get even angrier and then his ability should kick in, making his attacks more powerful.'_ was Ash's train of thought. "Mankey use Scratch back to back and don't give it time to use Harden again!"

Mankey eagerly runs at the Metapod again this time slashing at it with his nails over and over again. With each passing attack that seems to do no damage Mankey just got angrier and angrier.

"Fear my Metapod as it shall be your downfall! You might as well give up, your attacks are doing nothing to him!" Samurai loudly boasts about his Pokémon, ignorant to the fact that the attacks are now getting through Metapod's defense. That comment only got Mankey even more fired up, and his scratch attacks started to get faster as if the attack itself had evolved.

Noticing the change in Mankey's attack speed Ash takes out his Pokédex and looks at Mankey's attacks. _'Awesome Mankey just learned Fury Swipes!'_ Ash who is closely watching and sees that Metapod is now struggling to stay conscious from the constant damage it was taking "Mankey finish this with Karate Chop!" Following Ash's command he slams a karate chop straight down on Metapod knocking him out in the process.

Lillie looks closely at Metapod and says "Metapod is unable to battle the winner is Mankey." _'Am I doing this right? I hope I am'_ is what she is thinking right now.

"What!? But how!? My Metapod should have been invincible!" Samurai says baffled by how Mankey had beaten Metapod.

Ash just facepalms and explains what happened "Mankey was slowly chipping away at its health and my Mankey has an ability that makes him more powerful the more angry he is. The longer the battle took the angrier he got."

"I thought I had this clearly won, but alas victory fell through my fingers."

"I have to give you credit though" Ash says then continues with "that battle was harder than it looked." For his bad attempt at a joke Pikachu gave him quite a shock by hitting him with a low-powered Thundershock.

"Well with my Metapod down I am forced to use my strongest Pokémon" Samurai says as he returns Metapod and grabs another Pokéball.

"Mankey return, you did great." Ash says as he recalls Mankey to his Pokéball as well. "Pikachu are you ready to battle?"

"Pika!" Pikachu replies as he jumps off Ash's shoulder on to the field.

"Your Pikachu doesn't stand a chance against this Pokémon! Go Pinsir!", Samurai calls out as he releases a large intimidating brown beetle like creature that has two skinny arms, two thick stubby legs and 2 large spiked horns.

"Pinsir huh? Let's see what the Pokédex has to say about it."

 ** _"Pinsir the Stag Beetle Pokémon. Pinsir has a pair of massive horns. Protruding from the surface of these horns are thorns. These thorns are driven deeply into the foe's body when the pincer closes, making it tough for the foe to escape. When the temperature drops at night, it sleeps on treetops or among roots where it is well hidden."_**

"Pikachu are you ready?"

"Pika!" he says ready for battle.

Lillie looks to see if both are ready and she gets a nod from both trainers. "Uhh… Let the battle… continue?" _'This is embarrassing when you don't know what to say. I'll pay attention to how the referee does it in Ash's gym battle, for future reference.'_

"Pikachu use Nasty Plot!" As commanded Pikachu starts gathering all of his darker thoughts, stimulating his brain allowing more power to flow through his attacks.

"If they set up, then we should too! Use Focus Energy Pinsir!" Pinsir gathers energy and a red aura radiates from his body.

"Pikachu use Thundershock!" Pikachu unleashes a fierce bolt of electricity aimed straight for Pinsir.

"Pinsir dodge it!" The large beetle Pokémon attempts to move out of the way, but the attack is too fast for him and he can't get away in time. "No Pinsir! Power through it and hit Pikachu with Revenge!" Even though it was in pain, Pinsir pushes forward and hits Pikachu with its fist, sending Pikachu tumbling away.

"Pikachu are you okay?" Pikachu stands back up and nods his head to assure Ash he can continue. "Use Quick Attack to get in close, and then use Iron Tail!" Knowing Iron tail might fail Ash still wants Pikachu to attempt it in battle. Pikachu launches himself straight at Pinsir and when he gets close enough he spins and uses his now silver coated tail to hit Pinsir from the side. The combined power of the Quick Attack and Iron Tail sends Pinsir flying and he smashes into a tree. As Pincer tries to stand back up, something falls from the tree hitting it in the head, knocking it out cold.

Lillie sees that Pinsir was no longer able to battle and calls the match "P-Pinsir is unable to battle. Pikachu wins and Ash is the Victor."

Samurai returns Pinsir and says "You put up a valiant effort my friend, take a good rest."

Pikachu jumps to Ash who catches him in a hug "You did awesome Pikachu! That Iron Tail was your best one yet!" Ash then looks over towards the tree Pinsir once was and sees the thing that landed on its head. "What's that?" What Ash sees is a yellow oval shaped object. When he gets closer he sees that it has two triangular black eyes. Ash pulls out his Pokédex to find out what it is.

 ** _"Kakuna the Cocoon Pokémon. Kakuna remains virtually immobile as it clings to a tree. However, on the inside, it is extremely busy as it prepares for its coming evolution. This is evident from how hot the shell becomes to the touch. You normally won't find this Pokémon in the wild unless you are near a Beedrill hive._**

Just as the Pokédex finishes, the group starts to hear a loud buzzing sound and it is getting louder every second. Samurai realizing what it was shouts "That's the sound of a swarm of Beedrill, they must be angry for disturbing their nest! We must leave quickly!" Samurai takes off "Follow me I have a hut not far from here where we can take shelter!"

Ash and Lillie look at each other remembering the joke they shared before they entered the forest. Their faces pale and they sprint off after Samurai. As they were running the buzzing sound got closer and closer. Ash looks back and he instantly regrets it, there was at least 40 Beedrill chasing after them, looking incredibly pissed off. Ash also notices that Lillie is lagging behind, not because she wants to, but she just couldn't run as fast as they could. The hut comes into view, but the Beedrill are getting too close for comfort. "Pikachu, I need you to use Thundershock on as many of them as you can with one blast! They are catching up too quickly we won't make it to the hut in time!" Pikachu agrees and both he and Ash turn and face the swarm and Pikachu jumps off of Ash's shoulder and uses Thundershock with as much power as he could summon, effectively hitting the closest 10 all at once. They fall from the sky burnt to a crisp. Ash catches Pikachu and takes off towards the hut once again. It didn't buy much time, but every little bit helps. The swarm is only a few feet behind them when they reach the hut. Samurai has already gotten there and is holding the door open. Ash, seeing there was a Beedrill right behind Lillie, prepared to sting her, he gets in between her and the Beedrill and pushes her forward through the door of the hut. This move came at a cost, and the Beedrill hits Ash with the stinger on its tail. "Aagh" Ash groans as it pierces his left shoulder, but because of the adrenaline coursing through his body he didn't feel it much. The Beedrill retracts its stinger and tried to sting him a second time, but Pikachu uses Iron Tail and smacks it out of the air and away from them. They get through the door, and Samurai slams it shut. Right after it closes several Beedrill stingers pierce through the door.


End file.
